


crayola doesn't make a color

by womanaction



Category: Angel: the Series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-06
Updated: 2018-01-06
Packaged: 2019-03-01 08:52:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13291401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/womanaction/pseuds/womanaction
Summary: Faith tries something new.





	crayola doesn't make a color

**Author's Note:**

> For @faithlesbihane‘s Buffyverse femslash challenge, day 6: Faith/Buffy, painting.
> 
> Set during some happy-ish AU after Faith goes to get help from Angel.

“Damn, B, I thought I was the one who couldn’t sit still.”

Buffy rolls her eyes and stops chipping away her nail polish. “I _am_ sitting still. Only my fingers are moving. Are you painting my fingers?”

Faith frowns and looks back at the canvas. “I just wanna get it right,” she says, quietly enough that Buffy probably wouldn’t have been able to hear her if not for that super-special enhanced Slayer hearing.

Buffy doesn’t say anything. She’s doing her best to learn that it’s sometimes best to give the other Slayer her own space. But when Faith scowls and says, to Buffy this time, “Angel didn’t say it was gonna be this hard,” she can’t keep her mouth shut.

“Look, you’re the one who said you wanted to paint with a human model.”

“’Cause all the stuff in Angel’s place is dead boring,” Faith says flatly.

Buffy doesn’t let the pun distract her. “ _And_ …Angel’s had a couple hundred years to practice,” she adds, voice softening a bit. “Also, you know that painting isn’t actually a key component of redemption, right? I mean, if you think about it, Angel’s probably more artistic when he’s evil….”

“It’s not about that.” Something like vulnerability glints in Faith’s eyes, and Buffy curses her own weakness.

“So what’s it about?” she presses, in a small voice.

Faith doesn’t answer, just returns to painting, her lips in a tight flat line. “I just wanna get it right,” she says again, a little louder than before.

Buffy looks down at her hands again. She remembers what Angel had said – _give her time, just count in your head if it helps_. 1, 2, 3, 4…nope. 5, 6, 7…

“It’s just…”

Bingo.

Faith looks hesitant. Buffy tries to look encouraging.

“The other day, we were talking, right? And I said something about you – ”

_“You were always so damn perfect, and I just wanted you…to see me and I wanted to be enough. But I was never gonna be as good as you, because you were beautiful and smart and strong and…I just wanted to be part of your life.”_

 “And you said…’I don’t see what’s so great about me.’ Remember that?”

Buffy remembers. She thinks maybe she remembers everything Faith’s ever said to her.

“Well,” Faith says, looking shifty, and Buffy wonders if Angel’s voice is back in her head too. “I just wanted to…show you.”

“Oh,” Buffy breathes, warm all over.

Faith is smiling like she doesn’t know she’s doing it – that small, warm, genuine smile. Then she scowls at Buffy again. “But I’m never gonna finish if you keep twiddling your fucking thumbs,” she says warningly.

“Sorry,” Buffy says quickly, trying to hold back her smile. “I’ll sit on them.”

“You better,” she says, but she’s smiling like she’s about to start laughing.


End file.
